Saturday, 13 January 2018

I Don't Know What To Do With My Life

I am currently going through a stage in my life where everything is all a bit, to quote Phoebe Buffay, floopy.

I do not know what I want to do with so many aspects of my life.

The last time I felt like this was when I finished University.

Growing up I always had direction in my life. I went to nursery, then primary school, then high school. I knew throughout school that I would head on to sixth form and eventually University. I knew what the next stage would be for the first 20 or so years of my life.

When University ended I felt like I was staring into the abyss, not knowing what to do (cue tiny violin).

I did know one thing: I wanted to move to Manchester. So I got any job I could get, which mainly involved call centre work (oh the joys of customer service), and scrimped and saved until I had enough money to move. Finally the day came when my partner and I packed up a huge moving truck, whacked Taylor Swift: 1989 on full blast and began our journey to the beautiful, albeit slightly wet, Manchester singing ‘Shake It Off’ at the top of our lungs.

Fast forward a few years and I am now starting to feel that familiar sense of what the hell should I do with my life - can’t I just eat garlic bread and watch Netflix forever?

It’s probably influenced by the fact that the new year has just begun, which is when many people start to set goals and decide on life changes they want to make.

Over the past few months I’ve come up with a whole bunch of ideas on what to do, decided against them, decided I wanted to do them again, stopped for hummus, started the process again, thought screw it and gone out for gin, then lay in the foetus position missing the days when my parents would make decisions for me.

What do I want to do with my career? My diet? My fitness? My lifestyle? This weekend? Tomorrow? For tea tonight?

So I decided to head to the internet to find some inspiration (cos we all know the internet is a reliable source).

Here is a round up of some of the advice/messages I found that I thought were quite helpful.

1. Ask Yourself Some Questions

What are you passionate about? What is your dream job? Do you want to become an author of a long line of books or would writing articles make you happier? Do you want to work in marketing or do your skills lie in sales?

2. Take A Small Step

Although you may not be sure what exactly it is you want to do, you may have a general idea. If you’ve got something in mind then take a small step in that direction. Take the learnings from it and then take another step. Take the learnings from that and take another step. And just keep on doing that until you get to where you are happy to be.

3. Life Is Uncertain

We don’t know what is going to happen in life. I have been listening to so many podcasts lately where people are talking about how they got to where they are. A lot of the time they were heading in one direction when boom, an opportunity presented itself and they just went for it. We can’t always control everything so just go with the flow.

4. Stop Procrastinating

I am more than guilty of procrastinating, it’s so easy when Netflix auto-plays the next episode! Life will just keep on passing you by if you keep binge-watching a show. Make sure you set some time aside to follow your ambition.

5. Remember, Not Everyone Else Knows What They Want To Do

In this age of social media it can look like everyone you know is on track with their life plan and following their bliss. But as we all know, people don’t tend to put the less shiny parts of their life on Instagram. I know many people who seem so put together on social media but when I meet up with them I find out they’re often going through the same or similar things I am.

6. Enjoy Where You Are Now

Not every day has to be a day of smashing goals. Sometimes it’s good to take a step back from worrying about the future and appreciate what you currently have. Whether that’s the holiday you’ve just been on or that lazy Sunday you spent cosy-d up watching a wholesome film.

I am going to use these to guide me through the beginning of 2018 and hopefully I will figure out what it is I want to do, or just appreciate what it is I currently have.

Do you feel you have everything figured out or are you a little lost too? If you know what you want to do what advice would you give for those who are looking to start on a new path? If you don’t know what to do then what are you doing about it? Can you tell me what to do please?